Secret Passages & Saucepans: A Full Day in Florence
Starting the Day with the Uffizi & Vasari Corridor
We had a quick-ish breakfast before heading off to the Uffizi Gallery. We had a walk through the Vasari Corridor scheduled for 10:15am and we were allowed 2 hours in the gallery before the start of the corridor walk. We ended up arriving around 9:15am. We didn’t download the map on the phone until we got to the top floor of the gallery. However, we were in the wrong spot – we had to get back downstairs near where we walked in to get to the meeting point. We were able to walk through a few exhibits on the way before spending time on the ground floor looking at some areas and then waiting for the tour to start.
In 2012 the corridor may have been opened to ‘special’ visitors, but we weren’t aware of how we could have done it nor what it actually was. It wasn’t until our second trip in 2017 that we visited the Uffizi Gallery and did a tour that we learnt a bit more, and the corridor had been closed in 2016 for repairs and maintenance.
The Vasari Corridor, or Corridoio Vasariano, was originally built in 1565 by order of Duke Cosimo I de’ Medici, who wanted a safe, private passage between the seat of government at Palazzo Vecchio and his residence at the Pitti Palace. Designed by Giorgio Vasari, the corridor was completed in just five months, in time for the wedding of Cosimo’s son, Francesco I, to Joanna of Austria. This elevated walkway allowed the Medici family to move freely and securely above the bustling streets of Florence, away from the public eye and potential threats—especially considering the political tensions of the time. It was an architectural symbol of power and control, discreetly snaking its way over the Ponte Vecchio, through churches, and across rooftops.
For centuries, the Vasari Corridor remained an exclusive passage used by Florence’s ruling elite. The Medici family used it not only for daily commutes but also to observe the city unnoticed, thanks to specially placed windows along the route. Later, after the Medici era, the corridor was used less frequently, though it remained an intriguing reminder of Florence’s grand ducal past.
The Vasari Corridor today no longer displays paintings as it once did. For many years, it was famously lined with hundreds of self-portraits by artists from the Renaissance through to the modern era, making it one of the most unique art displays in Florence. However, in recent restorations and re-openings, these paintings have been removed to better preserve them, and the focus has shifted back to the corridor’s original architecture and its role in Florence’s history. While the paintings are gone, the corridor hasn’t lost its artistic flair—now it features sculpted busts placed on pillars along the route, giving visitors a more understated yet still striking reminder of the city’s rich cultural heritage.
It was pretty cool to think that we were walking where people had hundreds of years previously. As we went through the corridor we looked down on people walking on the Ponte Vecchio. There was also a point within the corridor that had a window that looked down into a church – the sad part for today was that there was a funeral taking place as we were looking down into the church.
Royal living at the Pitti Palace
After exiting the corridor in the Boboli Garden, next to the Pitti Palace, we took a little break while working out what to do next. We realised that while we did the Boboli Garden last time, we had not gone through the actual Pitti Palace before and didn’t do the royal apartments. We grabbed our tickets and embarked on a journey that would take a few hours.
We visited the first part, which didn’t include the private apartments. Apparently we needed a separate ticket (free) to book a time to do that part of the tour – choices were to go back out the front to the ticket office, or do it on their website. I opted for the website and so we got the session starting at 11:30am (20 minutes later). We took our time through the first part and were able to see the majority of it before needing to meet up with the group for the private apartments.
The Private Apartments at the Pitti Palace offer a fascinating glimpse into the personal lives of the Medici and later royal families who once called this grand residence home. Unlike the grand public rooms and galleries filled with priceless artworks, these apartments were designed for everyday living and are richly decorated with period furnishings, tapestries, and ornate details. Each room reflects the tastes and lifestyles of the various dynasties who lived here, from the Medici to the Lorraine and Savoy families. Walking through these spaces feels like stepping back in time, offering a more intimate perspective on Florence’s royal history.
Visitors on the Private Apartments tour can explore rooms such as the White Room, once used as a ballroom, and the Royal Apartments, where kings and queens resided during Florence’s brief time as Italy’s capital in the 19th century. These rooms are adorned with lavish fabrics, gilded mirrors, and elegant furniture, showcasing a blend of Renaissance, Baroque, and 19th-century styles. The tour provides rare access to areas not included in the general admission, making it a must for those interested in the personal side of palace life—where power and politics were set aside for private moments behind closed doors.
After the apartments tour we continued onto the Gallery of Modern Art. When we hear ‘Modern Art’, we think of Australia where the Brisbane GOMA covers stuff from mid-20th century to present. In Florence, ‘Modern’ is late 18th century through to the early 20th century. Go figure lol. I wasn’t expecting to see paintings, sculptures and the likes from 1800s listed as ‘modern’.
A midday pause & a cooling break
Before heading off we stopped for a drink in the Pitti Palace café, with some tiramisu and iced cappuccino for Ros and some Nonan’s lemon pie and coke for me.
We would be back near the Palace for our interactive cooking class tonight, but for now we made the trek back towards the hotel, stopping at Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella, to pick up something for Carwol. It was a nice warm 31 degrees, warming up to 33 degrees at 3pm so we decided that some time resting in the hotel in the air con might be the best option until we had to head out at 4pm when it would cool down to 32 degrees for a few hours.
Rolling up our sleeves for Tuscan cooking
Our activity tonight was an interactive cooking demonstration, at a cooking school nearby the Pitti Palace. Arriving just before the start time, we were chatting to a couple from Nashville. Their friends had done the cooking demo the week before and said they needed to. So it seemed like it would be good based upon somebody recommending it to them.
Right on 5pm we kicked off, with a group of 13 people from various countries – us two being the only Aussies. We were taken through to a prep area at the back of the cooking school to where there was some stuff set up. We would be assisting with four dishes: entrée of an asparagus souffle, first course of gnocchi, second course of chicken, dessert of chocolate souffle.
Ros and I were nearby the tomatoes for the first course. The person in charge was really good at getting everybody involved in different parts of each dish. Pretty hard task given how much was going on plus how many people there were. Ros and I diced some tomatoes. Ros’s next task was to fold in the chocolate and meringue for the souffle. My task was to dice mozzarella to go with the tomatoes for the gnocchi sauce.
I also had the honour of flipping one of the pans of chicken. Ros took great pleasure in taking a video of me doing that – little did she know that I had video of her folding in the souffle haha.
Our final task before starting to eat was rolling the gnocchi and cutting it up. Everybody got involved in this one – some were treating it as perfection being created and took a long time to roll out and cut up the gnocchi, Ros and I took it as gnocchi that would be cooked and eaten.
As they had cooked the asparagus souffle for the entrée, they brought them out ready to be eaten. Each one was plated and we took them downstairs to a dining room. It was delicious. At our table were two ladies from Ireland and one of their sons. We got to talking over food and one of the ladies mentioned her husband’s name as Fergus. Ros lit up and mentioned her great-nephew’s name was Fergus. The lady said that there is a website that shows the occurrence of baby names globally and Fergus was a name that was disappearing as it doesn’t rank very high with about 100 per year, and was excited to tell her husband that Australia has a Fergus!
The second dish they brought out was the gnocchi. It was beautiful – no doubt because of how well Ros and I cut up the tomatoes and mozzarella.
The next was individually served chicken – again it was beautiful and not overcooked.
The final piece being the chocolate souffle was perfectly cooked, along with some cream.
Ending the night, we were full and ready to wander back to the hotel.
Tonight was yet another great evening in Florence where we learned a little bit with some great conversations with people.
